The creation of art has always been my way of connecting to the life, the past, present, and future. Ever since I was young I have had a fascination with how beautiful things are made. It began its seeing Native American pottery and other artifacts in a museum and having a realization that these wondrous objects where not made in a factory, but by the hands of a person who knew what they where doing.
When I was in kindergarten I touched clay for the first time and my fate as a career artist was sealed, my parents gave me some oven baked polymer “clay” and I had a full time hobby. When I reached middle school I had a very supportive ceramicist as an art teacher who gave me clay to make objects at home and he would fire them in the schools kiln.
The summer before I began high school I was invited by one of my fathers coworkers to attend pottery classes at the Rochester folk art guild in western New York, this was the beginning of my life as a wheel potter. I continued to learn the craft at the guild after school, on weekends, and vacations throughout these formative years.
In high school I found yet more supportive art instructors who encouraged me to explore it only my pottery, but paper making print making, jewelry and metal smithing. My curiosity spread beyond the school house to taking weekend classes in welding, glass blowing, strained glass, glass casting, and of course, any pottery process I could find. It is during this time I became aware of American folk pottery and began making face jugs.
As my time in school came to a close I decided against going to collage but discovered Apache micaceous pottery and was pleased to secure an apprenticeship with the late great Apache potter Felipe Ortega. Yet all good things come to an end… I spent nearly a decade wandering he country looking for home until buying my 15 acres of paradise in the south mountains of North Carolina.
I have built me a studio and wood kiln, have found good places to dig stoneware clay, and found good community. When I am not making pots, making glazes, and firing my wood kiln. I spend my time hiking in search of gemstones, clay, and foraged foods; firing groundhog kilns and making shop talk with other potters; working on improving my homestead; and dreaming of what to work on with all my tomorrows.
